We Caught a Leprechaun...well almost!

When my little ones woke up this morning it was quite a scene...there was overturned furniture and quite a mess had been made. There were green footprints all over the place, in the fridge, the pantry around our trap. They were all over between the confetti, glitter and footprints I could barely see the tile floor. When my 3 year old carefully lifted the trap to see if she caught her sneaky leprechaun she found a note and a treat instead. The sneaky little fella left her some green milk and a bowl full of Lucky Charms. The tradition of Lucky the Leprechaun is one that I have used in my classroom for over ten years bringing such excitement and delight over the years. This year was the first year I did it at home and I was so amused at my daughter's excitement...it is definitely becoming a family tradition. Right up there with Otto our elf on the shelf! I will say I think I was so excited to see her reaction because after I set everything up late last night I couldn't sleep...I'm such a kid!
Here is a little teacher tip for your when preparing your paint for your leprechauns little footprints (made using a balled fist for the foot and a finger tip print for the toes) be sure to add liquid dish soap a 50/50 consistency works best with the green craft paint.
This makes for easy cleanup and no staining!

Even our dog Bailey joined in on the Leprechaun hunt...sniffing out his tracks.

 For a magically delicious math treat download my activity on graphing with Lucky Charms

Work with your child (or students) to sort the different pieces into groups and then complete the graph using their counting skills.

For some fun in the kitchen try a new recipe Lucky Charms Ice Cream

 Recipe:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups Lucky Charms cereal
1/3 cup sugar
4 eggs yolks
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup Lucky Charms marshmallows

Soak 1 cup of cereal in milk for 10 minutes. Drain the cereal from the milk and put milk in a pot with the sugar over medium heat. In a separate bowl, whip the egg yolks. Just as the milk is beginning to simmer, stir it into egg yolk bowl, half cup by half cup, stirring continuously. Add the egg yolk mixture back into the pot on the stove slowly. Continue to stir until the mixture thickens into a custard and coast the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and pour into a separate bowl. Add the heavy cream and vanilla. Cool in an ice bath or in the refrigerator. When mixture is cool, pour it into the ice cream machine and turn. When you've reach the consistency you want, stir the Lucky Charms marshmallows and remaining half cup of cereal in by hand.

Recipe from The Frozen Fix

For your students, or little ones at home you can print and use these Magically Delicious bag toppers, just print, cut and staple onto a goodie bag. They are FREE!!! So go download yours now!

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Colorful treats to catch those pesky leprechauns

 

Want to catch a sneaky little leprechaun and learn a little bit about colors this St. Patrick's Day.... then break out the cake mix and dust off that old box of food coloring. Because rainbow cakes are all the rage. I am sure you have seen countless versions on Pinterest and all over the web. There is no better way to prepare for a little St. Patrick's Day visitor than to bake a rainbow cake.

To make a rainbow cake all you need to do is separate a white cake mix into 6 separate bowls. Then add food coloring. This is a great way to introduce color mixing to your curious little ones. 

For a fun activity for the classroom or home on color sorting visit my TPT site.

To bake our little leprechaun treat simply pour cake batter into a large glass mason jar.

Starting with Purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and then red. 

**Caution make sure not to overflow, fill only half way.

After being a classroom teacher for 10 years I'm pretty sure a teacher must have come up with cake baking in mason jars. Because I don't know about you but every time I had a cooking project in the classroom I always forgot the most essential of items. So I'm sure sometime somewhere a teacher forgot her cake pans and pulled out an old mason jar from her supply closet....and viola instant Pinterest phenomenon. Anyway it came to be is fine by me, I simply love the way the colors are layered together.

While your cake is baking in the oven for the next 25 - 30 minutes you can take the opportunity to review those colors with your little one. I like to use my muffin tins as sorting trays. I put colored pieces of construction paper in the bottom of each cup. I set my timer for 7 minutes and my little one runs around the house finding objects to add to her tray. This is a great hands on activity on color exploration and sorting.

We also enjoyed a little watercolor painting. A great way to teach about color blending and the primary colors is by using watercolors. We practiced making rainbows using our paints making sure we were saying each color as we painted. While we waited for our cake to cool we played a quick game of color memory, matching the color words to the corresponding color. You can get yours here.

 

With the left over cake batter we made a fantastically colorful treat to finish up our activity on colors

With a few activities on colors under your belt you are on your way to St. Patrick's Day. Now that your rainbow cake is all done all that is left to do is to design a  leprechaun trap to catch one of those sneaky little fellas. My three year old really used her imagination tonight to create hers, she gathered all kinds of supplies from around the house, we set our rainbow cake in the middle and got the trap ready. She went to bed tonight filled with anticipation she can't wait to wake up in the morning and see if she caught a pesky little leprechaun.....I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring. Stay tuned.

 

If you would like to have a leprechaun visit your class or home and you want some cute activities for St. Patrick's Day stop by my TPT site.

 

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What does it take to trap a leprechaun?

It's leprechaun season around here, and that means it's time to trap a few of these little folk legends. I've seen and heard all the fun chaos (do those two words go together?) that leprechauns can bring to primary classrooms, but I want my fifth graders to join in on the festivities. Since St. Patrick's day also falls in the season of testing in Florida, I want to make sure that my students are using their science skills to lure these mysterious Irish guys into some well designed traps.

I have Irish roots and can thank my ancestors for freckles and fair skin, but also for the fun that goes along with this holiday. Here are a few things I've told my students to be aware of:

* Leprechauns are little and can fit into the craziest of spaces.
* They're probably wearing green, have a red beard, and most likely a top hat.
* Legend has it that they are looking for a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

Here are some cute and creative takes on trapping the little men.





Source: Tip Junkie

My wish upon a rainbow would be for my students to have to use at least two simple machines in their trap design, bait, and a written description of how they accomplished this goal. You can find my direction page here. If my students are LUCKY I might put out some items like Popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, string, clothespins, tape, glue, cages (strawberry containers), and whatever else I can round up. You want the children to be inventive and creative with this, so don't give them too much!

Marcy has some great rainbow crafts for preschool and primary students coming in the next couple of days. Make sure to follow the rainbow back here soon!

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